Bupa Global partners with HERO Health

International health insurer Bupa Global has partnered with HERO Health to launch the HERO International Scorecard to its business customers outside of the US.

The HERO International Scorecard is an online tool for employers that helps organisations create an inventory of health and wellbeing best practice, benchmark their performance, and understand how they can improve over time.

The Scorecard, which has been created in collaboration with leading experts in health and wellbeing, surveys employers on a range of workplace health factors such as promotion and integration of employee health initiatives, participation rates, cost, and organisational and cultural support, using measures recommended by an expert panel. Responses to the survey allow employers to assess the effectiveness of their programmes and track progress over time.

In addition to using the Scorecard to create an inventory of health and wellbeing best practice, organisations can compare their programmes to other businesses, by correlating their scores against the aggregate of all businesses in the database. They can also compare their score to similar employers based on industry, size, geographic location, employee demographics or other criteria.

In terms of results, the Scorecard has already been successfully shown to help employers predict company healthcare cost trends, with high scorers experiencing significant reductions in inflation-adjusted healthcare cost. It has even been associated with improved company stock value performance, based on the US data since its creation in 2006.

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“With half of the world’s population in work, employees increasingly expect their employer to play an active role in their health and wellbeing, yet some businesses still don’t appreciate the commercial and strategic value of workplace health initiatives,” explained Patrick Watt, Commercial Director Europe, Bupa Global. “This is why we’ve partnered with HERO to give our customers the means to measure and report on the impact of the workplace health programmes they have implemented.

“Workplace health is a key way for businesses to attract and retain talent – but it’s important to partner with an experienced provider who can support in the provision, promotion and execution of these kinds of initiatives.”

Additionally, the insurer is set to launch its Business Mental Health Advantage next month, where it will support employees in obtaining essential support within mental health, the Financial Adviser has reported.

"This is an excellent initiative from Bupa that will benefit both employers and employees in an area where NHS provision is lacking,” commented Brian Walters, Principal medical insurance broker Regency Health.

"Advisers should ensure they discuss mental health cover with group administrators and there would have to be a good reason for such cover not to be included."